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Archive: Federal government leadership

The government seems to think it can require, inspect and educate safe behaviors into the food chain. However, quality experts learned long ago that you cannot inspect quality into a product or service. I have been in too many government inspections in the Army and in other parts of the government where vehicles looked good but wouldn't run; where equipment didn't operate properly, but the operators could avoid the detection; where paperwork irregularities were explained away. Why were such things done? Simple: To avoid punishment.

If new US National Security Adviser Thomas E. Donilon needs a reminder of how stark the enemy threat is, he need look no further than today's discovery of printer cartridges rigged like explosive devices aboard UPS airliner cargo holds that left Yemen bound for Jewish Synagogues in the United States. A dry run? You bet. And not just to test the holes in air cargo security systems, but to test the reaction time and responsiveness of our national security apparatus.